patients knew what they would be getting years out so that medicare would have the stability that it needs. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman, madam speaker. i would say again, somehow in the gentleman's memory of these past years, there is something that is left out, and that is that this body and congress, because during the clinton years, the clinton years that saw prosperity, there was a republican-controlled congress and republican-controlled congress yielded tax policies that we believed could once again get us back on track in the same way, all the job losses that the gentleman continues to recite and point fingers and blame on the prior administration, if we're going to play that game, i would say that since his party has taken control of this body, we've lost in this country 6.1 million jobs. as he says, none of the job losses are acceptable. i would say there are many ways to look at these figures and who was responsible for what and could claim credit for such. but at the end of the day, what we're facing right now is a situation where the american people and the smal